The goose is getting fat

Politically incorrect it may be, but foie gras is storming British menus. Anwer Bati reports

Maybe it's something to do with the Atkins Diet, but foie gras - once a rare luxury guzzled only by gourmets - has suddenly become a feature of British menus. And it's being used in increasingly imaginative and sometimes bizarre ways.

Gordon Ramsay's Boxwood Cafe at the Berkeley Hotel in London serves it in a distinctly upmarket hamburger, and at Viktor, a Japanese restaurant in Knightsbridge, it is combined with sushi. Pascal Aussignac specialises in foie gras, serving no fewer than 12 dishes at Club Gascon in Clerkenwell (020 7796 0600). The restaurant is a magnet for foie gras fans such as Cate Blanchett, Tim Robbins and Alan Parker.

Foie gras is one of those guilty, expensive and satisfying pleasures that it's sensible to deny yourself and impossible to resist. It is very high in fat and calorifically catastrophic. But at its best it can be unique in both flavour and texture and so meltingly delicious that it provides one of the most memorable gastronomic experiences.

Foie gras (literally "fat liver") is the liver of a goose or duck, hugely enlarged by force-feeding the fowl large quantities of maize. Gavage, as this is known in France, remains a matter of controversy. (Ever sensitive to the animal-rights lobby, Tony Blair banished it from Gordon Ramsay's menu for a banquet in honour of Vladimir Putin.)

Critics think that cramming the fowls full is cruel, but advocates insist that the technique relies on the migratory instincts of the birds to gobble grain, and that they feel no pain or discomfort. I would argue that the free-range lives of the ducks and geese bred for the best foie gras are notably better than those of the battery chickens we eat.

Cruel or not, gavage is certainly a highly effective process: a normal duck liver is much the same size as a chicken liver (a couple of ounces), but it can be made to grow as heavy as 1 lb or more. Fattened goose livers normally weigh twice as much. The fattening accounts for what chef Rowley Leigh calls "the most extraordinary hybrid between meat and butter".

This time-consuming process - traditionally hand-fed birds take about three weeks to get ready - accounts for the high price. You can expect to pay about £15-£20 per 1 lb for fresh duck foie gras. Goose foie gras is rarer and more expensive, but not necessarily any better; it's purely a matter of preference. Fresh foie gras (it should be labelled "extra") is eaten hot, usually seared.

Foie gras sold in jars or cans by delicatessens should be eaten cold. The best comes from France, though it is also produced in Hungary, Bulgaria, the United States and Israel. Whether the very finest is from south-west France or the area around Strasbourg (a favourite, naturally, of the local Eurocrats) is a matter of debate. Top-quality foie gras is too heavy and rich to be eaten in large quantities. According to Pascal Aussignac, it is best eaten, hot or cold, as a starter. "That's the way we eat it in France," he says.

Aussignac's foie gras dishes include hot foie gras in seaweed. He also serves it as a dessert, infused with pink Champagne and rose petals.

Know your foie gras

Whole foie gras (entier), which is eaten cold, comes in three types, all pre-cooked: fraismi-cuit, which keeps for two months; and sterilised (foie gras de conserve), which lasts for about five years and improves with age. Bloc de foie gras, which is reconstituted from bits of several livers, is cheaper.

Foie gras is traditionally accompanied by lightly toasted brioche or thin slices of toasted pain de campagne, and sweet wines such as Sauternes or Monbazillac. A decent white Bergerac, or Champagne, sweet sherry and dessert wines, such as Juranon, are also good matches.

Foie gras is sold in the food halls of leading department stores such as Harrods, Harvey Nichols and Selfridges. Upmarket delicatessens also supply it.

Several foie gras producers, including Food from France, Foie Gras Groliere and Le Grand Pre, will be exhibiting in the Gourmet Food Hall at this year's 'Spirit of Christmas' show, from next Friday to November 10, at Olympia in London and GMEX in Manchester. Special ticket price for Telegraph readers (£10 London; £8 Manchester). Call the ticket hotline: 0870 121 2525 and quote TELAD.